Week 4 - What is World Music and Why Does It Exist?

Even though there is no clear definition of what world music is it can often be seen as something that comes from outside western civilization, whether this be the use of foreign themes, musical instruments or the exclusion of the English language. One of the main reasons for the creation of world music would be as a form of rebellion against cultural imperialism and the penetration of American culture. Another major factor in the existence of world music would be the production and marketing of singing talent who perform ‘local’ indigenous music to be marketed worldwide, with the use of the Internet this has become increasingly cheap and easy which means the multinational companies who invest in this talent are doing so in order to exploit the local market.

All in all it could be argued that world music is simply music from another country that cant be put into any other category and is therefore classed as world music in order to be sold by record companies. 

Week 3 Is Popular Music a Mass Produced Commodity or a Genuine Art Form???

Adorno argues that the whole structure of popular music is standardised. He says that popular music was symptomatic of the political and aesthetically destructive nature of the capitalist mode of destruction. Basically it’s a production line that mass-produces inferior commodities. Adorno also goes on to say that part interchangeability only serves to give these products an illusion of uniqueness. However Gendron, who goes on to say that music is the recording of a moment in time and that it is therefore very hard to mass replicate can argue otherwise. For example you could have two versions of the same song but its connotations could be completely different. So the question were left asking is; just because something is a commodity does this mean its not art? There are arguments for both sides, however we also have to understand that art can be described as something aesthetically pleasing and it is my belief that popular music fills this criteria.